CHARACTERS OF NASCAR
Characters of NASCAR:
Mark Martin BY ROB TIONGSON
D
uring NASCAR’s meteoric rise in popularity during the 1990s, Mark Mar-
tin, of Batesville, Ark. was embraced by fans as a perennial frontrunner in Jack Roush’s No. 6 Ford. After a strong runner-up points finish in 1990, Martin and his team looked ahead to the 1991 NASCAR Cup Series season as a title contender. Martin, whose team learned from its mistake at Richmond in ’90, recalled the uphill battle that he and then crew chief Robin Pemberton faced the following year. “Well, we had had a really good year in ’90 and just hoped that we could keep that going in that direction,” Martin recalled. “We scored more points, the most points in 1990, but we had a penalty that cost us the championship. “We went into ’91, and things changed, and we weren’t able to be as competitive as we wanted. And we spent the whole year trying to get fast enough to win, and we didn’t win a race until the last race of the season (at Atlanta). So, it was a little bit of a disappointing season for us. We were consistent, but we weren’t winners until the final race of the season.” While Martin and the No. 6 Folgers Ford Thunderbird visited Victory Lane on only one occasion in ’91, he was a popular, go-to driver during TV and radio broadcasts. As NASCAR’s races were airing more frequently on broadcast and cable networks, drivers often spoke with the broadcasters via two-way radio from inside their race cars. As technology and instant communication improved, Martin recognized the importance of providing these unique insights for the race fans at home. “It was a tremendous opportunity for the fans, and I completely understood the
concept of building the sport,” he said. “I had started out on the dirt tracks in Arkansas, and this was being able to have more interaction with the fans and with the broadcasters and everything. Just made the sport better and made it more attractive to the fans. “You’re delivering more interest and more upclose and personal. So, it was an important part of the whole package. And as that came along, pretty soon, in-car cameras came along as well. And a lot of people didn’t want to carry in-car cameras, but we understood that there was a marketing advantage to that and that it was good for the sport, so we kind of embraced it.” Naturally, like most racing legends, Martin reminisces about a memorable car that was like a favorite sports coat. “We started numbering our cars at Roush’s with No. 1, JR1,” Martin said. “We built JR10 in 1989. And that is the car that we got our first win in ’89. And we ran that car in ’90 and ’91 as well. And we retired that car, and we brought it back out and reskinned it in ’93 and won with it again. “JR10 was our best car. I don’t have an accurate number of how many wins we got with that car, but of the 35 wins, I would have to credit it with probably four or five of the 35. It was a special car. Got us our first win but it was retired on two different occasions and then brought back out and rebodied and won again for us. So, when we needed a chassis really quickly, we would bring it out of retirement, and cut the body off and put a new body on and bring it back out.”
P L AY I N G FAV O R I T E S
Mark’s Fast Thoughts
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POLE POSITION 2021
1
In terms of drivers who remind Martin of himself, “I’m a fan
of Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick.”
2
While Martin had good friends in NASCAR, as he observed, “Ernie
Irvan was the guy that I liked to hang out with.”
3
As Martin recalled about his driving style, “I could turn right and
catch the back end without having to move my hands.”
4
Although NASCAR’s popularity blossomed in the 1990s, Martin noted the passing of
Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki as “two major superstar losses.”
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES
